Josh Newman is the youngest in a set of twins that are part of a prophecy that includes himself and his sister Sophie Newman. They were told that they were born on December 21, 1991, but Josh was actually born to a Neanderthal tribe in 30,000 B.C.(ironic because most kids like him are called Neanderthals at least once, also, he wanted to use Necromancy to allow his parents to study Neanderthals at first hand, which technically they did, having seen them, and having raised Josh) He was moved to a Shadowrealm where time stops by Isis and Osiris, and eventually joined by Sophie. They both have blonde hair and blue eyes. Their adoptive parents are Richard Newman and Sara Newman, which, at the end of The Warlock, turn out to be Osiris and Isis. Osiris and Isis later confirm that they didn't birth the twins and there wasn't a blood relation between them. Josh's aura is gold and has the scent of oranges and proves he is one of the Twins of Legend, posing as the sun.

After Dr. John Dee tries to take the Codex from Nicholas Flamel, Josh, who was working at the bookshop Flamel owned, rips the 2 pages of the Codex, and goes with Flamel along with Sophie. They stay with Scathach until they are forced to flee to Hekate. When Sophie's aura is awakened by Hekate, there is no time for Josh's aura to also be awakened as an invading army led by Bastet, the Morrigan and Dr. John Dee freeze and shatter the world tree, Yggdrasil. Eventually, in Paris, Flamel gives him Clarent, the Sword of Fire, for him to use to protect himself. With it, he slays Nidhogg and sees its memories. He also contains strategic knowledge of Mars since he was awakened by the Sleeping God in the Catacombs of Paris soon after slaying Nidhogg. Josh later learns the Magic of Water from the King Gilgamesh .

After arriving back in San Francisco, Josh learns the Magic of Fire from the ElderPrometheus, in his Shadowrealm, Hades . After learning Fire Magic, Josh sides with Dee, and is tricked into releasing Coatlicue. Then Josh goes to Alcatraz with Dee and his associate, Virginia Dare, to unleash monsters on San Francisco. Before they do, Virginia teaches Josh the Magic of Air. They release the Lotan, and succeed in releasing the rest of the monsters from their cells, until Mars, Hel, and Odin race to Alcatraz to stop them.

Dee uses the Four Swords of Power to create a leygate to Danu Talis before it sinks, bringing along with him Josh, Dare, and Sophie. Josh and Sophie meet Isis and Osiris who take them in. Soon they are to be presented to The elders as the successors of Aten. Sophie and Josh leave and go to the roof of The Pyramid of the Sun. They see Isis and Osiris and start to argue. During the battle, it is revealed that Josh and Sophie are not brother and sister. Isis and Osiris went looking for people with pure gold and silver auras, finding Josh at a Neanderthal camp with a gold aura. They stole him as a baby and raised him as their own alongside Sophie. Soon Isis and Osiris decide to kill the twins and reveal that they are Earthlords. Josh kills them and realizes that he is the twin to destroy Danu Talis. He fuses the four swords and becomes Marethyu.

His hook is the four swords of power fused together.

"Today, I become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."

Contents

Josh has a very complicated personality that changes over the course of the books. He is very protective of his sister and cares for her deeply, sometimes becoming overly protective. He also is said to be the twin that talks and doesn't think. He will mouth off to people if they are getting on his nerves or if he is angry with them. Sophie stated that this was one of the reasons why he was a loner while growing up. He is not unkind, but not quick to trust; it would be unusual for him to sacrifice himself for others, but will never back down from a fight. He also has begun to distrust most of the people in the series, as he said they ruined his life and harmed his sister and no one ever tells him the full truth. He was mostly wary of Flamel, after learning that Awakening Sophie could have killed her or put her in a coma, but unlike Sophie does not wish for any of it to be reversed. Only one person he said he really had some trust with was Niccolò Machiavelli as he was the only person who was straight with him. He also appears to have a competitive streak to his personality. Despite all the distrust he feels for others in the series, he apparently has some hunger for power as when he had his senses briefly Awakened, while Sophie felt terrible, he felt exhilarated and truly alive.

Starting inThe Magician, and continuing on throughout the books, Clarent has begun to influence Josh, making him think more and more like Dee, eventuallly choosing Dee over his sister and the Flamels. Josh still loves his sister, but he just believes that the Flamels have her under some sort of spell. In The Warlock, Josh admits that one of the reasons he wants to stay on Dee's side is because it makes him feel needed. Along with Dee, Josh also became close with Niccolò Machiavelli and Billy the Kid, although he leaves them once they try to stop Dee from unleashing the Lotan onto San Francisco.

Josh also notably has a fear of snakes; he has come face to face with a rattle snake and gets fearful when he smells Machiavelli's aura, for it smells like snakes. He also used to have nightmares in which he had out-of-body experiences, and has one in the final book.

!Spoiler Alert!

In the last book, when Josh becomes Marethyu, his final words to Sophie before the transformation were, "I will always remember you," even though he knows he will see her again, 10,000 years in the future when the whole cycle starts again. This shows that even though Sophie and him aren't technically related, they share a close bond that never wavered throughout the whole six books.

Golden Aura: Josh possesses a pure Gold Aura which is rarer than his sister's aura. He is stronger than his sister with regards to the Magic of Fire . With his aura, he is able to accomplish amazing feats of power, such as creating armor that is solid gold, increasing the strength of improvised weapons, enhancing the powers of other peoples' auras, etc.

Superhuman Strength: He possesses strength that is greater than any human.

Aura Manipulation: He is able to manipulate his Aura to do virtually anything.

Fire Magic: In The Necromancer, he learned Fire Magic from Prometheus and is more powerful than his sister in this field. As explained by Prometheus, Josh represents the sun and the sun's element is fire, so Josh is extremely powerful with Fire Magic. He has a tattoo of a sunstone on his left hand, which serves as a trigger for Fire Magic.

Air Magic: Trained by Virginia Dare, Josh now possesses the ability of manipulation of air and clouds, also known as Air Magic. His trigger is to whistle the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He can also levitate, which Sophie cannot do.

Earth Magic: It is presumed that since he become Death and knows the Magic of Aether, he knows Earth Magic since Aether is all the elements.

Swordsman: After training with Scathatch and Joan of Arc, he has learned some swordsmanship skillls. He also possessed Clarent, but lost it in The Sorceress. He gets it back in The Necromancer. In this book he also gets Durendal from Dee.

Master Tactician & Strategist: After being Awakened by Mars Ultor, the Elder grants Josh all his skills as a tactician and strategist.

Reality Manipulation: He can warp reality to his will.

Necromancer: In the Necromancer Dr. John Dee made him a necromancer, much to the Flamel's horror.

Aura Vision: Like Sophie he can see traces of auras left behind.

Aura Absorption: He can absorb auras by force or by the aura wielders will.

Clairvoyance: He could see almost everything, as displayed when he looked to his left and saw Tammuz, Shakespeare, Palamedes, and Saint-Germain a dimension away.

Precognition: Either he can see the future, he's been to the future, or he's been told the future.

Reality Manipulation: He could manipulate reality to create a massive Shadowrealm and fill it with creatures. He could also change, alter, and manipulate the very fabric of this Shadowrealm to fit any need and want he has, such as freezing a lake, then turning it into molten lava, then turning it back into crystal clear water all by waving his hooked hand.

Piloting: Can pilot a vimana with enough skill to rival Prometheus, with one hand only.

I can not promise you too many letters -- you know how bad I am at writing, and there aren't really phones where I've been.

I wanted you to know that I am safe and well and getting used to the hook. I did scratch my head with it, but that's a mistake you only make once. I've had a couple of offers to turn it into a proper silver hand or a golden glove, but to be honest, I've grown rather fond of it. And of course, it does have some wonderful advantages. I used it to make this most amazing Shadowrealm only last month. I put some great prehistoric animals in it and added two moons -- and of course, there are no snakes.

I believe you are off to London shortly with Aunt Agnes. Give my regards to Gilgimesh. It's probably best not to tell him who I was/am/will be. He's confused enough as it is.

Please do not worry about me.

I know that is like telling you not to breathe, but I do need you to know that I am fine. More than fine. I am discovering more and more of my powers every day. I am immortal and eternal and I regret nothing. We did the right thing: one to save the world, one to destroy it.

You know that if you ever need me, all you have to do is look into a mirror and call my name three times. (Use the new name; I'm not sure calling Josh would have any impact.)

If you ever call me, I will come to you.

But even if you do not call, Sophie, know that I will watch over you all the days of your life.

It's what a brother is supposed to do, isn't it?

Marethyu

Writ this day, the 10th of Imbolc, On the Shadowrealm Isle of Tir na nOg

P.S. The Flamels send their love.

​Marethyu

P.P.S. We were at Aoife and Niten's wedding last month. Scathach was her bridesmaid. Everyone cried.